We Have Work To Do
This
is an outline of my sermon text for the 1st Sunday of Advent,
on December 1, 2019. My focus was the First lesson, Isaiah 2:1-5, and the Gospel lesson, Matthew 24:36-44. + pBRC
Sermon Video from St. Mark
May God’s grace, mercy and love
be with you forever. AMEN.
·
Well,
What is Christmas-y about these readings?
o
Where
is the Christmas spirit in any of that?
§
It’s
nowhere. Nor should it be there.
o
Advent
is not pre-Christmas, even though that is what we treat it as.
o
The
season of Advent is preparing for Christ.
§
Not
preparing for His birth; that’s already happened.
§
The
season of Advent is to prepare for His return.
·
We
get that wrong as well, because when we think about Jesus returning, we want to
know the signs and the portents, the whens and the wheres so we can be ready.
·
But
what about instead of wanting to know when, so that we can get ready, how about
if we stay ready and be doing what it is we are supposed to be doing?
o
Jesus
said, “But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what
part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would
not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for
the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”[4]
§
It
is easy to be prepared if you know WHEN you need to be prepared.
·
But
to truly be prepared is to be ready at any time.
·
To
truly be prepared is to be doing what you should be doing the whole time.
o
That
is what a part of the word that Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw concerning Judah
and Jerusalem.[5]
·
The
vision that Isaiah saw for God’s people was the fulfillment of the covenant
that God established with Abraham and Sarah.
o
God
promised that from these two aged people would come a mighty nation that would
have the land that God promised to them.
§
And
God would bless them so that through them, they would be a blessing to all of
the world.
§
God
wanted things to go so well for the descendants of Abraham and Sarah that they
would be like the people with the greenest lawn, or the tomatoes that always
win at the fair, or the pies that always sell first at the bake sale.
·
God
wanted them to be so successful that others would come to them and say, “What’s
your secret? How are you so blessed?”
o
Then
they would say we are just doing what our Lord and God has commanded us to do.
Maybe, if you did that as well, you too may be blessed.
o
Isaiah
saw a day when that would happen and the world, all nations and peoples, would
come to Jerusalem, to Mount Zion to learn.
§
Many peoples shall come and say, "Come, let us go up to the
mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us
his ways and that we may walk in his paths."[6]
§
What
they would learn there is God’s justice, and God’s justice is for those who are
blessed to help those who have been held back or pushed aside.
·
God
wants those who have to help those who do not have.
·
God’s
judgement and justice is to arbitrate and to reconcile.
·
God’s
judgement says, “I want you to do what I told you to do.”
§
If
we live in a world that is just; if we live in a world that is fair; if we live
in a world without want, then we will live in a world at peace.
·
If
no one has too much or too little, if no one has a reason to be afraid of
anyone, then why do we need weapons of destruction?
·
If
we love our neighbor in need, if we love the stranger, and we take care of
them, who do we have to be afraid of SO MUCH that we feel the need to take
their life?
·
If
we feel safe, we don’t need to learn war any more.[7]
o
If
you think that I am describing some fantasy land that could never happen, let
me ask this. Why is it easier to believe that we will be raised from our tombs,
coffins and final resting places long after we have died, then to believe in a
world without war?
§
Why
is it harder to believe in a world where they shall beat their swords
into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up
sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore,[8] and
easier to believe in eternal life after death?
o
Because
for us to be raised, we have to do nothing but trust God.
§
To
believe that justice can lead to peace, we have to work at having justice be
done for everyone, even if it is to our own detriment.
§
It
means we would have to live out the commands of the Hebrew Bible and of Christ
to love God, to love our neighbor and to love the stranger. We would have to
live out the terms of the Abrahamic Covenant and use our blessings to be
blessings for others.
§
It
would mean we live and do what Jesus taught.
·
The
misunderstood thing about what Jesus teaches will happen when two will be together;
one will be taken and one will be left, is that we think that being taken is
good, and being left behind is bad.
o
That
is letting the flawed creation of the rapture theology overwhelm what the
Scripture says.
§
“For as in
those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving
in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until
the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of
Man.”[9]
o
What
is the setting that Jesus describes?
§
A
setting similar “as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage.”
o
What
happened during The Flood?
§
“The day Noah
entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all
away.”
o
The
one who was found righteous, Noah and his family, remained on Earth, sheltered
by being prepared in doing what God commanded and building an ark.
§
The
ones who were found lacking were swept away.
§
“So too will be
the coming of the Son of Man.”
·
What
Jesus describes as happening when the Son of Man returns, where two will be together;
one will be taken and one will be left, is that the righteous will be left.
Here. On Earth.
o
Which
is where God’s Kingdom will come.
o
“And
I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the
throne saying, ‘See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them
as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them.’”[10]
§
The
righteous won’t be swept away, or taken.
§
They
will be here, doing their work, waiting on God to keep God’s promise and bring
about the God’s will and God’s reign, on Earth, as it is in heaven.
o
Until
that day, we’ve got work to do. People are hungry. People are lonely. People
need justice. People cry out for peace.
§
We’ve
got work to do.
AMEN.
[1] Matthew
24.40.
[2] Isaiah 2:4.
[3] Romans
13:12.
[4] Matthew 24:43-44.
[5] Isaiah 2:1.
[6] Isaiah 2:3.
[7] Isaiah 2:4.
[8] Isaiah 2:4.
[9] Matthew
24:28-39.
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